# Controversial encounters between law-enforcement and civilians - the omnibus thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 10, 2014, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942 "2014-10-10T07:35:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 783
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2019, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15643 "2019-12-21T00:47:10Z")
Officers shoot woman inside house when looking for a suspect: > **[Officers in south Alabama shoot woman during search for man already in jail](https://abc3340.com/news/local/south-alabama-police-shoot-woman-during-search-for-man-already-in-jail)** > > MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — Officers who mistakenly entered a home trying to arrest an Alabama man who was already in jail shot a woman who was inside, news outlets reported. Ann Rylee, 19, was wounded during the raid on Thursday, television news outlets... The suspect was already in jail. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2019, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15644 "2019-12-23T23:41:07Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15645 "2019-12-31T02:23:28Z")
> [@Rick Kitchen](#): > > West Virginia police academy graduating class all does a Nazi salute in a photo with the caption “Hail Byrd”, the name of their trainer. > [WV employees suspended after photo emerges of correctional officers' Nazi salute](https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/legal_affairs/wv-employees-suspended-after-photo-emerges-of-correctional-officers-nazi/article_fb446f32-31c5-5b46-9977-5854937697a7.html) Remember this story? News out today: The entire class in that photo, plus a few higher-ups, have all been fired. [Prison guard trainees were photographed giving a Nazi salute. The whole class got fired.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/12/30/prison-guard-trainees-were-photographed-giving-nazi-salute-whole-class-got-fired/) Kim Bellware, Washington Post, Dec. 30, 2019. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15646 "2019-12-31T03:27:00Z")
A Kansas police officer told the chief that an employee at a local McDonald’s wrote “fucking pig” on his coffee cup. Then the owner and the chief reviewed the store security footage and found that no such thing happened. [Turns out the cop made it up as a “joke” and he’s now been fired.](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mcdonalds-junction-city-controversy-kansas-police-officer-fabricated-story-about-being-served-mcdonalds-coffee/) ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15647 "2019-12-31T03:34:48Z")
Two Mobile, Ala cops made a “quilt” out of homeless people’s signs where they asked for handouts and food, then posted it online with the caption “Wanna wish everybody in the 4th precinct a Merry Christmas, especially our captain. Hope you enjoy our homeless quilt. Sincerely Panhandler patrol.” The Chief of Police apologized, but there is no indication that there were any repercussions. > **[Mobile police officers ridicule homeless people](https://www.al.com/news/2019/12/mobile-police-officers-appear-to-ridicule-homeless-people-in-viral-facebook-post.html)** > > The image has been shared thousands of times. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15648 "2019-12-31T03:39:13Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Officers shoot woman inside house when looking for a suspect: > [https://abc3340.com/news/local/south-alabama-police-shoot-woman-during-search-for-man-already-in-jail](https://abc3340.com/news/local/south-alabama-police-shoot-woman-during-search-for-man-already-in-jail) > > The suspect was already in jail. - Officers shot the woman after she refused orders to drop the shotgun, he said. “If she would not have pointed a gun at the agents they would have determined all that on the scene and would have bid her a ‘good day and thank you very much,’” Cochran said.\* Yeah, because it is her fault that they failed to check their own paperwork. Anyone want to bet on whether she has to pay her own medical bill? ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15649 "2019-12-31T10:54:44Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > [INDENT][COLOR=DarkSlateGray]\* Officers shot the woman after she refused orders to drop the shotgun, he said. The over-under on how long they gave her to comply is 0.01 second. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15650 "2019-12-31T16:29:01Z")
New Jersey’s Finest [Man brutally beaten by cops in a hospital in 2018 found dead](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/man-brutally-beaten-by-cops-in-a-hospital-in-2018-found-dead/ar-BBYtqr6) > [@](#): > > At the time of his death, Andrew Casciano, 31, had a $4 million lawsuit pending against the city over the assault, which resulted in convictions that sent two Paterson cops — Ruben McAusland and Roger Then — to federal prison. NSFW The video is brutal. It shows two incidents of a cop punching a man in custody. Once in a wheelchair and one in a hospital bed. The attack in the hospital bed was filmed by his partner. He starts the video by turning the camera on himself to show his smiling face. The punch in the wheelchair (which resulted in injuries that required racial reconstruction surgery) was witnessed by a half dozen officers. None of them reported anything. Authorities only know about the video…because they found it when they arrested Paterson Police Officer Ruben McAusland for drug dealing. **He was selling heroin and cocaine _while in uniform…from his marked police car_.** > [@](#): > > [FBI agents made a startling discovery last year when they seized drug-dealing Paterson Police Officer Ruben McAusland’s cellphone: a disturbing video of the cop attacking a suicide patient at a hospital emergency room, federal authorities said](https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/paterson-press/2019/03/27/drug-dealing-paterson-nj-cop-ruben-mcausland-faces-up-50-years-sentencing/3285905002/). They found out about his drug dealing during a Federal investigation of Paterson cops making illegal traffic stops and then robbing the drivers. > [@](#): > > They are among six Paterson cops arrested as part of an FBI probe that started at the end of 2017. > > The other four officers have been accused of making illegal traffic stops and then taking cash from the vehicles’ occupants. One of those four, Jonathan Bustios, pleaded guilty last year and is awaiting sentencing. Charges are pending against the other three – Daniel Pent, Eudy Ramos and Matthew Torres. All 6 officers were part of the same 2014 class of police recruits. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15651 "2019-12-31T23:36:49Z")
> **[Officer Admits He Faked Claim About McDonald’s Coffee Cup Insult (Published...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/31/us/police-mcdonalds-coffee.html)** > > The Kansas police officer resigned after video footage showed that restaurant employees had not written “pig” on his cup. Officer Admits He Faked Claim About McDonald’s Coffee Cup Insult The Kansas police officer resigned after video footage showed that restaurant employees had not written “pig” on his cup. 17 hours ago - A police officer in Kansas resigned on Monday after admitting he had fabricated a story that a McDonald’s employee wrote a vulgar insult on his… > **[Police chief apologizes for fake story about cop getting McDonald's cup...](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-chief-apologizes-for-mcdonalds-officer-fabricated-story-about-being-served-mcdonalds-coffee-with-fing-pig-on/)** > > "We hope that this is always remembered as the act of one person," police chief said in New Year's apology. Police officer “fabricated” story about being served McDonald’s coffee with “f\*\*\*ing pig” written on cup A Kansas police officer “fabricated” a story that a McDonald’s employee wrote an expletive on his coffee cup over the weekend, Herington Police Chief Brian Hornaday said Monday. Hornaday said the officer, who no longer works for the department, had originally claimed he had been given a coffee cup on Saturday that had “f\*\*\*ing pig” written on it. “We found that McDonald’s and its employees did not have anything whatsoever to do with this incident. This was completely and solely fabricated by a Herington police officer who is no longer employed with our agency,” Hornaday said at a press conference. The officer, who has not been identified, was with the Herington Police Department for only two months, Hornaday said. … Dana Cook, the owner of a McDonald’s in Junction City, said in a written statement after the allegation was made that the store had video showing it couldn’t have been an employee. Cook did not speculate at the time about who may have written the words. “My McDonald’s have the utmost respect for all members of law enforcement and the military and were troubled by the accusation made,” Cook wrote in the statement. “We thoroughly reviewed our security video from every angle, which clearly shows the words were not written by one of our employees. We look forward to working with Chief Hornaday as he continues his investigation.” Yeah. The whole story was made up bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15652 "2020-01-03T15:23:06Z")
[NYPD cop sentenced in racist tirade resigns amid outcry](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/nypd-cop-sentenced-in-racist-tirade-resigns-amid-outcry/ar-BBYyJvN) > [@](#): > > A New York police officer who was sentenced last month in Tennessee for a racist tirade and break-in at the home of an African American family has resigned from the force, the department said Thursday. Calls for the firing of NYPD officer Michael Reynolds, who is white, have grown since he was sentenced December 6 in the rampage at the Nashville home in 2018, The NYPD cop went to Tennessee for a bachelor party, got rip-roaring drunk, broke into a family’s house and yelled racial slurs and threats. He was fired by NYPD because of an online petition of 12000 names and the fact that the incident was recorded on a neighbor’s surveillance video. > [@](#): > > She said Reynolds, who was visiting Nashville and staying nearby with a group for a bachelor party, called her and her family “f–king n—ers” and threatened to “break every f—ing bone in your f—ing neck.” The paper reports he charged at Halliburton and only left the home when she told him police were on the way. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15653 "2020-01-03T19:55:50Z")
Cleveland’s Finest [Cleveland police detective’s shoddy work led to Columbus man’s wrongful arrest, lawsuit says](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/cleveland-police-detectives-shoddy-work-led-to-columbus-mans-wrongful-arrest-lawsuit-says/ar-BBYyAjI) > [@](#): > > Mielnik never interviewed the woman or confirmed with her the man’s identity. She instead searched a database with a name that sounded similar to the one provided in the woman’s initial report and turned up Burroughs > \ > She did not make any other effort to verify that Burroughs was the man at the apartment but instead obtained a warrant for Burroughs’ arrest, which was issued on June 3 on an aggravated burglary charge, the lawsuit says. ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2020, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15654 "2020-01-10T18:39:20Z")
In NYC, as a cop, you can fuck teenage arrestees, tamper with evidence and make up crimes out of whole cloth to set up people for 15 year sentences without doing any time as a consequence. [Police detective convicted of inventing a crime to imprison innocent man is allowed to walk free by judge](https://www.yahoo.com/news/police-detective-convicted-inventing-crime-114506778.html) ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2020, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15655 "2020-01-10T22:54:11Z")
> [@Isosleepy](#): > > In NYC, as a cop, you can fuck teenage arrestees, tamper with evidence and make up crimes out of whole cloth to set up people for 15 year sentences without doing any time as a consequence. [Police detective convicted of inventing a crime to imprison innocent man is allowed to walk free by judge](https://www.yahoo.com/news/police-detective-convicted-inventing-crime-114506778.html) > [@](#): > > “Considering the crime that the defendant committed, I do find a six month incarceration … would be unduly harsh,” Mr Chun said. I couldn’t believe my fucking eyes. Had to read it 3 times. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2020, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15656 "2020-01-11T01:29:55Z")
To be fair the the sentencing of 1 day in prison was for the perjury. The other mentioned crimes are tied, through the same judge, to two different incidents with different officers. Offered up for clarity’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2020, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15657 "2020-01-11T15:43:21Z")
In Mississippi, Willie Nash gets arrested for a misdemeanor. Goes to jail. At booking, his cell phone is not confiscated. Nash later asks a guard to charge his phone. The guard confiscates the phone, and Nash is charged with violating a Mississippi law that forbids prisoners from having electronic devices while in jail. Now, recall that the booking officer failed to confiscate the phone. And it’s obvious that Nash had no nefarious intentions and didn’t even realize he wasn’t supposed to have the phone. So he gets this additional charge and that goes to trial, a trial at which the booking officer is never called to testify. So the jury doesn’t get to hear whether proper booking procedures were followed. Nash gets convicted and sentenced to a $5000 fine and _fifteen fucking years in prison_. The Mississippi Supreme Court just upheld the sentence. This is America. > **[Miss. Supreme Court upholds 12-year sentence of man convicted for having...](https://www.wdam.com/2020/01/11/miss-supreme-court-upholds-year-sentence-man-convicted-having-cellphone-jail/)** > > The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the 12-year sentence of a man convicted for having a cellphone in jail on Thursday. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2020, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15658 "2020-01-11T16:08:39Z")
How do these fucking people sleep at night? ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2020, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15659 "2020-01-11T20:42:51Z")
Correction… It was only 12 years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Absolutely absurd. The complete lack of reasonableness is cruel and counterproductive. But why didn’t the defense attorney subpoena the booking officer to testify that the phone was never taken, not instructions that a phone is contraband? ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2020, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15660 "2020-01-12T00:21:44Z")
Thanks for the correction. And yeah I was also wondering if his defense was effective. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2020, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15661 "2020-01-12T00:52:54Z")
OK, yeah, this guy did a hit and run, so he’s not exactly a good guy, but a cop let it out that the hit and run had left a person in critical condition, which it did not, so the guy who did the hit and run committed suicide. The cop said “it’s a lie, but it’s fun.” > **[A man in Seattle killed himself thinking that he'd hurt someone in a...](https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/10/us/seattle-police-officer-ruse-man-suicide/index.html)** > > When a man allegedly drove away from the scene of a 2018 fender-bender, a Seattle police officer told one of the man's friends that the crash left a woman in critical condition, a police watchdog says. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2020, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15662 "2020-01-13T16:30:27Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > Correction… It was only 12 years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Absolutely absurd. The complete lack of reasonableness is cruel and counterproductive. > > But why didn’t the defense attorney subpoena the booking officer to testify that the phone was never taken, not instructions that a phone is contraband? I am going to guess that the _assumption_ was that he did not have the cell phone when booked. He had it smuggled in at a later time. The defense attorney may have questioned the booking officer and did not hear the answer he wanted. If the officer admits he did not search someone going into the jail, he might get fired. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942.md?page=782) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942.md?page=784)